Book review: Civil War doctor a battlefield pioneer

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
THE Associated Press

Published: October 20, 2013;Last modified: October 20, 2013 05:00AM

Here’s what a real Washington scandal looks like: Many Union soldiers wounded at Bull Run, the Civil War’s first major battle, had to walk some 20 miles to the nation’s capital in search of medical care. Hundreds too badly hurt remained behind, some for as long as a week, until they were carried off and treated.

Hardly any thought had been given to tending to wounded troops. More than 1,500 soldiers seeking treatment overwhelmed Washington’s four hospitals as well as an inexperienced military medical corps. President Abraham Lincoln was among those who watched bloodied soldiers walk the streets in search of shelter. Newspaper accounts of their plight enraged Americans.

The military debacle in Northern Virginia in July 1861 revealed more than a fundamentally flawed and unprepared Union army, historian Scott McGaugh writes. “Its medical department needed new leadership, organization, resources, and perhaps most importantly, the authority to adequately prepare, deploy and treat the wounded in battle.”

Central to the life-saving changes that followed was a military doctor who had spent more than a decade in army outposts around the country. Jonathan Letterman, a native of Canonsburg, Pa., educated at Philadelphia’s Jefferson Medical College, knew all too well how commanders and the military bureaucracy could treat doctors with disdain and ignore their advice about hygiene and nutrition.

In “Surgeon in Blue: Jonathan Letterman, the Civil War Doctor Who Pioneered Battlefield Care,” McGaugh blends the doctor’s personal history with an examination of medical practices of the era and an overview of key Civil War battles.

By the time Union and Confederate forces clashed in September 1862 at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Md., Letterman’s reforms were taking hold. Illness among troops had fallen after weekly baths were ordered, for example, and cases of scurvy began to recede once fresh vegetables were routinely provided. The construction and maintenance of latrines were given more attention. Another key change: Officers were being held accountable for the health of their men.